APT have a contract with mellitah Oil and Gas in Libya. I worked there and got messed around by the manager there after getting ill. The thing is, they arranged for me to pop back to the UK to see my Dr and then...whoosh....notice given.

This would have been ok with me had they actually PAID my notice but the company don't pay up whenever they think they can get away with it. They weren't even going to pay me for the actual work I did until I kicked up a fuss. I am still owed one month's pay by this company so if anyone gets an offer from this company be very very careful as the manager, Jeremy, (basiltherat) will get rid of you as he doesn't care about anyone else but himself.

What is intriguing is the fact he mocks the Libyan managers' beliefs behind their backs, yet he doesn't mind smiling at them to keep his job going. There is also an issue with bats flying around after dusk and therefore a health hazard, although i didn't see them the 2nd time round so maybe they were hibernating or had been moved.

Oh I forgot, they were advertising for a teacher and a former colleague I worked with applied. They at first said they were interested in pursuing his application and asked his age! When he told them he was in his 60s this is the actual reply email that he got:

As politically and socially incorrect as it might sound, I am afraid that your age automatically disqualifies you from taking up the position here. The client has recently stipulated that anyone over 55 cannot now be accepted. My apologies for not being in a position to include this point in the ad.

Best regards

Jeremy Gibbons

Mellitah Gas English Section

Fair enough you might say, but the laughable thing is that JG and his assistant manager, when he's on rotational leave, are BOTH OVER 55 THEMSELVES!!!! How double standard can you get?

If you wish to work for this guy then good luck! I wouldn't recommend touching the place with a barge pole however considering the dishonesty of the company towards employee contracts and their double standard ageist remarks.

Hats off to anyone able to navigate the weirdness of working in the Libyan oil industry. Between the mendaciousness of managers and the overall decrepitude and corruption of the work scene....good luck!

I wrote a few posts on this subject quite a while ago. It seems that since then the work conditions and pay have if anything deteriorated. People new to the country need to understand that Libya is not a country like any other. Corruption, influence-peddling and rip-offs are standard, and your chances of a fair deal are slim unless you can secure a direct job with a reputable (non Libyan) firm. One of the reasons for this is that any contracting company is likely to be being shaken down by various parties, and quite possibly having to pay back-handers, kick-backs etc. Therefore they are going to have to try to rip off their own teachers, just to keep their heads above water.

To the dismay of Joe Teacher are the other pressures that come with working in Libya - barely supressed xenophobia courtesy of 42 years of being led by you know who, plus the endemic contempt for the 'kaffir', that old reliable of the region.

All of that is bad enough, but teamed with long periods in the desert, they become something more than a challenge. Oh, and at the risk of repeating myself from previous posts, the pay people on this forum refer to is completely disastrous, and should interest only the most desperate of teachers or those who feel they deserve nothing better. Day rates for Eng teachers in the sub-Saharan oil industry range from about 200 pounds to 400 pounds per day or more. Even in Libya, those working for BASF for example, are on about 350, I believe. Do the math. 1500 or even 2500 or 3500 pounds per month is ridiculous. But hey, whatever other rights you don't have in Libya (free speech, free association, labour rights, the right to drink alcohol, to have free relations with members of the opposite sex etc etc etc) there is certainly one right you do have - to be thoroughly exploited and taken advantage of. If that's your thing, why not?

I've worked for oil companies in Qatar (the richest country in the world per capita), Saudi and Libya. I'm on ok money. I've never met a technical teacher let alone english teacher who earns 400 quid a day. I've been in Libya for 4 years in total and never met a Wintershell teacher, it must be a really good gig that you never hear about with a really small staff. They're like urban legends here.

I agree with what you've said about Libya though. There's a kind of apartheid here and the incompetence and negligence combined with the hubris and chutzpah of the locals can drag you to the edge of reason.

If you have a good Sub-Saharan contact I'd love it as money is my main aim now. I interviewed for Marathon Oil in Eq Guinea but didn't get it. In fact no male I know was offered a position post interview. An inexperienced, leggy girl I know did get the job.....say no more. Tax was involved too, which I asked about at interview.

Sharter, where did you hear about these sub-saharan English gigs? Were they advertised or did you just write to them on spec? I think you might need a yellow fever vaccination for some of these places and that is a 'live' vaccine. Since my rabies reaction, vaccines are a no no for me especially tropical ones like these. I'm still suffering 20% residual symptoms although my rheumy said it should eventually clear up.